


Champagne Problems

by Ivyaugust



Series: Introduction to Evermore [2]
Category: Community (TV)
Genre: AU, F/M, Post canon, just a heads up, the Troy/abed is just mentioned and it’s past, this is a sad fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:54:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29166774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ivyaugust/pseuds/Ivyaugust
Summary: Find me on tumblr @ butterednoodlesjules!Comments make my day!!!!
Relationships: Annie Edison/Abed Nadir, Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Series: Introduction to Evermore [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2141133
Comments: 3
Kudos: 18





	Champagne Problems

Annie was watching two drops of water running down the window, wondering which would reach the bottom first. The frost around the edges of the window made it hard to see out of the train into the darkness, but that was okay. Annie didn’t need to see. She couldn’t get out of her head anyway. Her phone was buzzing in her purse, but she ignored it every time, already knowing who it was. She didn’t want to talk to her just yet. She tapped her feet anxiously on the floor. She felt sick. She knew she technically had done the right thing, but that didn’t make it any harder.

_“Abed… Get up.” Annie whispered, her eyes shifting around the restaurant, embarrassed of the scene he was making. “Don’t do this…”_

_Abed’s smile had fallen completely flat. His brow furrowed and he closed the box, putting it back in his pocket and getting back into his seat. “I don’t understand. I’m trying to be romantic. I thought you’d like it.”_

_“Well I don’t.” Annie snapped, still whispering. She winced at herself. That was harsher than she meant for it to be. “I’m sorry.... What I meant to say was….. I can’t marry you, Abed.”_

_Abed looked lost. “Why not? I thought things were going well between us.”_

Annie hadn’t had the heart to tell Abed why she really couldn’t marry him. Not yet, anyway. She felt horrible. They’d been together for a long time, logically it seemed like the next step. Abed was right about that. But she had never had the relationship she wanted with Abed, and she knew that Abed had settled for her after it became abundantly clear that Troy wasn’t coming back. He clung to her for comfort. Safety. Familiarity. She couldn’t manage that responsibility anymore.

She sighed to herself, wondering what their friends would say when they found out what had happened. She could hear it already. The judgmental tones, the careful sidestepping. A dance that they’d have to do forever now, anytime both she and Abed were in the same room. Blaming it all on her. She wished that they would all just immediately understand. She loved Abed, but she knew that marrying him would be a huge mistake. One that they would both regret.

_“Abed… It’s really not that simple...You know that, right?” She asked gently, trying to keep the confusion on his face from turning to sadness. She couldn’t stand making him sad. “Don’t you think that maybe you’re rushing into this?”_

_“But we’ve been together for a long time. We’ve cared about each other for a long time. This is what people in long term relationships do. I really want to be married.” Abed argued. “It just feels like we’re both getting to a point where we’re supposed to be married, but we aren’t. Apparently we aren’t even close.”_

_Annie bit her lip. She had known for a long time that Abed feared being alone for the rest of his life. At one point she had felt secure in knowing that Troy would make sure that wasn’t true, but now she wasn’t so sure. Not since Troy had taken up residence in a mansion in another country and stopped picking up his phone. “Do you want to be married to me? Or do you just want to be married? Abed, life doesn’t have to go according to a script. In fact, you shouldn’t try to make it. You could end up making the wrong choices.”_

_Abed didn’t answer, he just waved the waiter over, asking for the check. “You know, Annie,” Abed finally picked up once the waiter had left with his card. “I do love you. I always will. Even if we both know it’s not the way I loved Troy. I hope that isn’t why you’re doing this, because I know that you love me.”_

_“No!” Annie rushed to defend herself. “Not at all! Troy was irreplaceable, I know. But you deserve someone better for you than I am, Abed. I can’t be what you need me to be. I do love you, you’re right about that. But I just don’t think I love you that way… anymore.”_

_“Why not?”_

_“I- I’ve grown up a lot since we started seeing each other, Abed. We were still in college, I was still really young. I’ve been thinking a lot about who I am lately, and I just don’t think I can see myself with you anymore. At all.”_

_Abed was quiet. “You’re breaking up with me?”_

_“Abed… We both want different things. It’s for the best.”_

_He nodded. “Okay. I understand, but I think you should go.” His eyes were fixated on the table, refusing to look her in the eye and fiddling with his napkin._

Annie’s train pulled to a stop and the jerking motion split the two drops of water that she had been watching. They each went opposite directions, landing on the sill at the same time. She sighed and found herself rising from her seat and getting off of the train on autopilot. She stepped onto the platform and lifted the collar of her coat up against the wind and snow, hurrying up the street in the direction of her old school.

Arriving outside the towering walls of Greendale, Annie felt a longing that she hadn’t felt in years. A longing to go back, to be a kid again and start from scratch. She knew that she would do most of it the same, but she also knew that she had made a lot of mistakes. Her first real kiss with Jeff had happened right where she was standing. She felt her lips curl in disgust at the memory. She couldn’t believe she had spent time pining for him. Not to mention Troy, who had turned out to be kind of a jerk in the end after all.

But then there was Abed. Abed, who had walked with her, arm in arm, to their classes every day for years. Abed, who had taught her how to keep her imagination and whimsy alive, even in adulthood. She saw her family everywhere here, but most of all she saw Abed. Abed was right. They had loved each other for a long time. They understood each other, took care of each other. Everything Abed touched turned to gold, and Annie knew that she shone from where he had left his mark on her. She pulled her jacket tight around her as she realized that she was wearing one of his flannels underneath it. She didn’t want to think about how he probably would want it back. Or even worse, that he might not.

She looked around the campus, lined with christmas lights and covered in snow. How dare the country be in celebration right now? It didn’t feel like the holidays, and Annie sure didn’t feel like celebrating anything. She wondered what her life would be like if she had gone to DC like she had planned. If Abed had gone to LA. If Troy had come home. She wondered if her and Abed’s relationship had been a worthy exchange.  
Looking back, it felt obvious to Annie that the only reason she was in the relationship was because she had no reason not to be. It was comfortable. She hadn’t been aware that she didn’t want a future with Abed until she was put in a position where she was forced to decide.

  
_“I think you’re right.” Annie said sadly, standing up and gathering her coat. I’m really sorry, Abed.” She reached for his hand, giving it a squeeze, but he pulled away sharply, as if he had been burned. “I’ll see you around..” She said quietly, turning and walking away._

_As she walked away, she felt a combination of sadness and relief. The end of a chapter, but also the start of a new one._

She didn’t want to believe that Abed would end up alone. She didn’t want him to blame her for it, either. Abed was more than capable of finding someone else who would love him, but she would be devastated to see him settle for the sake of not feeling alone. She wanted to believe that someone would come along and sweep him off of his feet, erasing all the memories of what he had lost and giving him the life that he wanted so desperately.

She took one last look around the courtyard, remembering the last time she had been here. When everyone had said goodbye. Before Abed had convinced her to stay. She didn’t regret it, but it did make her sad. They had missed out on something, the both of them, for something that could never be what they had wanted it to be. She felt bad for herself, and she wasn’t afraid to admit it. She had given up a part of her life for him, and she couldn’t get it back. She sighed, turning her back on the school and trying not to think about how uncertain her life was now. She had nowhere to go, no idea who she wanted to be, or where to go from here.

She shivered as she walked back to their apartment alone, still tipsy and foggy from the drinks that she’d had at dinner. Her mind was finally quiet, and for the first time in a long time, despite all the uncertainty, she was sure she had made the right choice.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr @ butterednoodlesjules!
> 
> Comments make my day!!!!


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